ORFEO International – Reviews

Important Releases Briefly Introduced

January 2006

The string quartet as an alternative to the hybrid genre of drama giocoso: champagne and seduction may not be handed out by singers, but thanks to the sophisticated compositional technique of a skilful arranger and the Artist Quartet’s audible pleasure in their playing, the result is far more than mere background music designed to be played at supper.

Formed in 1980 the
Artist Quartet won numerous prizes in international competitions and also studied a season with the LaSalle Quartet. By 1987 they were launched on an international career that has taken them to all the world’s leading venues, including London’s Wigmore Hall, the Auditorium du Louvre, the Théâtre de la Ville and the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Herkulessaal in Munich, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, New York’s Carnegie Hall, the Silshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles, Suntary and Casals Hall in Tokyo and the Teatro Colón in Buenes Aires.

In their approach to the recording of Don Giovanni it was very important to them not only to turn the piece into a gigantic string quartet but to retain the theatricality of the work and the polarity of voice and instrument. They were all clear in their minds whether they were an instrument or a singer in any given moment. This can be heard when listening to the recording for example immediately after the ouverture, when, following a brief introduction, the first violin becomes a sullen Leporello.

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